The Office of Information Technology, in partnership with the Libraries, is pleased to announce a new free opportunity for faculty, staff and graduate students: the Educational Technology Workshop (ETW). The focus of this year's ETW will be "Web 2.0" tools and pedagogies, including blogging, microblogging, syndication, podcasting, video sharing, online collaboration and social networking.

For those interested in creating effective technology rich learning environments, exciting new opportunities emerge on a nearly daily basis.
This rapidly expanding suite of tools challenges us to understand each new tool's potential for enhancing learning and determine how best to integrate a suite of such tools to create an effective learning environment. The ETW is designed to help participants meet these challenges head on. The goals for participants are:

* to develop a flexible method for exploring and evaluating the utility of new technologies to enhance teaching and learning environments; and
* to master an effective process for designing technology-rich learning activities that includes planning, engagement, and evaluation.

The ETW will meet each Tuesday morning from 9-11 a.m. over six weeks (October 13 - November 17). Each participant will work in a small team to help design and deliver one class session. Because the ETW is participant driven, an additional hour or two per week outside of class will be required to prepare for each session. Those who complete the workshop satisfactorily will receive a certificate of accomplishment.
For more details, and to register, go to http://dmc.umn.edu/etw.

Inside Higher Ed reports a new master teacher education program has unexpectedly high enrollment from a diverse, highly-qualified cohort of students. The program just launched in fall 2009, so metrics like teacher placement, completion rates, and certification exams won't be available for several years.

Several aspects of this venture, called MAT@USC, are interesting. The USC Rossier School of Education is a top-tier, highly regarded program. Often, faculty or administrators express concern that online programs might, as IHE notes, "dilute the brand" of the larger program or school.

In addition, teacher education has been one of the subject areas many schools think would not translate well to an online platform. That ties in to another interesting aspect the MAT@USC program; their partnership with 2Tor, a for-profit company that partners with institutions of higher education to build and deliver online programs. 2Tor is providing some of the technology infrastructure that helps ensure high student-to-student contact and student-to-faculty contact, hallmarks of most excellent teacher education programs.

It will be interesting to see the comparisons on data points like teacher placement and certification exams between the online program and the on-campus program in a few years.